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Wright Robert E.

Name:
Robert E. Wright
Rank:
Sergeant
Serial Number:
Unit:
501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division
Date of Death:
2013-12-21
State:
Cemetery:
Angoville-au-Plain, France
Plot:
Town church cemetery
Row:
Grave:
Decoration:
Silver Star Medal, Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters
Comments:

Robert Wright was born in Ohio on February 9-1924, the son of Bertha and Pearl Wright. After graduating from high school in 1942 Bob joined the 101st Airborne 501st Infantry Regiment that fall and became a Medic.

At 1:25 on June 6, 1944 Robert E. Wright jumped from a C47 on Angoville Au Plain. With a stretcher bearer, Kenneth Moore. The two medics establish an aid station in the village church, which then stood in the middle of the fighting. Robert and Kenneth roamed the fields to evacuate the wounded, in a short time, the modest building had over 80 souls. The enemy made extensive counterattacks, forcing their combat unit of the 501st Infantry Regiment to retreat toward Vierville. However, Robert and Kenneth decided to stay alone in Angoville with the wounded, to treat not only Americans but Germans also. As the two medics treated both, they only required that weapons were left outside the church. For more than 72 hours, Robert Wright and Kenneth Moore labored alone, under dense incoming artillery and mortar bombardment. They accomplished their duty of providing care and comfort in this religious building, defined only by a single red cross flag nailed on the door. Later in June 1944, Robert Wright and his companion Kenneth Moore were decorated for their action with the Silver Star for Gallantry. The ceremony took take place on the Place de la République of Carentan, which was overshadowed by an enemy mortar which mortally wounded a little girl presenting flowers. September 17, 1944, Robert Wright parachuted into Veghel, The Netherlands. He established a first aid station in a convent, where in addition to his Army companions, he treated five Catholic Nuns heavily injured. On 21 December 1944, during the siege of Bastogne, he established an aid station in the basement of a farm at Bizory, where under extreme conditions, he treated a countless number of injuries.

He then took an active part in the advancement of liberation troops providing them medical care until the liberation of Europe on 8 May 1945. Robert returned to the United States on 7 September 1945 and married Margaret Writsel on 30 September 1945. They had two children; Sherry and Robert Junior. After retiring in 1982, Robert Wright became active in the Methodist Church and devoted to the construction of homes and buildings for charitable organizations and for the poor.

Bob died in hospice care at the age of 89 and is now buried in the churchyard in Angoville, France. His tombstone has the initials REW on it.

Source of information: Excerpt from an obituary found on Facebook (D-Day Experience, Saint Côme du Mont), www.findagrave.com, wanderwisdom.com